The story of how Vasco found the “fault of Alfredo” car

“I would also take you to America! I bought the car on purpose!”. So he sang Vasco Rossi in 1980 in “fault of Alfredo”, the song that gave the title to the third studio album of Zocca’s rocker, whose popularity, at the time, was still limited to Emilia-Romagna and surroundings (the exploit would have occurred two years later thanks to the participation in the Sanremo Festival with “I go to the maximum”). The car in question was a Modena rhythm, which Vasco bought in 1980, on the eve of the song release. Now, after forty -five years after the publication of “fault of Alfredo”, that rhythm returns to light. And the story is incredible.

The car was fortunately recovered in 2017 by a mechanic in Montefiorino (in the province of Modena), Massimo Turrini. Rocker fans, Turrini found himself out of pure chance in his hands the car, registered on October 3, 1979 and by Mo 461639. Eight years ago, a man telephoned the workshop owned by him: “It has been for some time that near my house has been abandoned an old Fiat Ritmo on a lawn. I know that you also have demolitions …”. Once on the spot, Turrini scored the number of the license plate on a notebook and had a search at the public automotive register to trace the owner: “He explained to me that he had heard that the first buyer of the rhythm had been a singer of Zocca. There a bulb came to me: I grew up among ‘bubbles’ and ‘free free’, I don’t know if I explain to me,” Republic.

Thus, by pure chance, Turrini found himself in his hands a piece of Italian rock history: “I started restoring it using rigorously period pieces. I also recovered a 1979 car radio and, even if no one will believe me, when I lit it it was tuned to ‘wonderful’, another piece of Blasco”. Once the restoration work has been finished, Turrini asked for the circulation permit to the PRA to put the vehicle back on the road. Now the confirmation has arrived: the Fiat Ritmo is precisely that belonging to Vasco. Word of Vasco himself, who recognized the car and autographed the circulation booklet: “It is she”, the response of the Rocker.

The Fiat Ritmo is one of the historical models of the car manufacturer, appreciated by both enthusiasts and collectors: a model from ’78 was auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2021 for 15 thousand euros. It comes by itself that the one branded MO 461639 has a decidedly higher value: “There were also collectors who offered me a lot of money”, confessed Turrini, who is not willing to sell it.